It is common knowledge that it is a desirable situation to own a large number of pairs of shoes and to use any one pair only occasionally. In this way, a particular pair of shoes has an opportunity to recover from its use and to retain its original shape. At the same time it is desirable to provide each pair of shoes with an individual shoe tree to help it to retain its shape. However, where a large number of shoes is owned, it is very expensive to provide a separate pair of shoe trees for each pair of shoes. This because in the past shoe trees have been made as solid blocks of wood, so far as the toe piece and heel piece are concerned, joined by a screw or toggle mechanism made of metal. This wood and metal construction is very expensive, so that few people are able to afford to provide shoe trees for all of their shoes. Attempts in the past to manufacture inexpensive shoe trees have been less than successful, partly because of the difficulty of providing a simple means of providing the longitudinal force between the toe piece and the heel piece to retain the shoe in proper condition. Furthermore, shoe trees of the prior art have been less than sanitary in use and, after washing, had to be thoroughly dried to prevent deterioration. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide a shoe tree which is inexpensive to manufacture and sell.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a shoe tree which is light in weight and which provides a gentle shoe-shape retaining force.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a shoe tree which is capable of a long life of useful service with a minimum of maintenance.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a shoe tree which is sanitary in use and which can readily be washed without danger of deterioration of the materials.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.